Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi on Sunday welcomed Syrian opposition leader Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib's readiness to hold talks under conditions with the Syrian regime.

"It's a good step forward," Salehi said at the Munich Security Conference, where he said he had held a "very good meeting" with Khatib.

Jordanian riot police fired tear gas on Sunday to disperse Syrian refugees at a northern desert camp as they fought over tents being distributed by a Norwegian charity, an official said.

"A Norwegian charity was giving away tents to Syrian refugees at the Zaatari camp. They rioted and clashed with each other, trying to attack security officers," Anmar Hmud, a government spokesman for refugee affairs, told AFP.

Israel on Sunday implicitly confirmed it staged an air strike on Syria this week, as President Bashar Assad accused the Jewish state of trying to "destabilize" the strife-torn country.

Four days after an air raid which Damascus said targeted a military complex near the capital, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak spoke to reporters in Munich but refrained from directly confirming that Israel staged the strike.

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Saturday he wants to keep in regular contact with Syria's opposition after holding his first direct talks with the coalition's leader, Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib, Russian news agencies reported.

"I reminded Khatib that after the creation of the coalition and the appointment of their leader, we immediately demonstrated our interest in maintaining regular contact," Lavrov said after the meeting on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati denounced on Saturday the clashes that occurred overnight in the eastern town of Arsal near the border with Syria, saying that the state will take all the necessary security and legal measures against the offenders and to restore calm in the area.

“The Army is carrying out its duty by defending the country and its citizens, no matter what sect or area they are from,” Miqati said after holding talks with Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn and Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji.

A senior Iranian security official visiting Damascus on Saturday pledged Tehran's full support for the Syrian regime, its close ally, Syrian state television said.

"We will give all our support so that Syria remains firm and able to face all the arrogant (Western) conspiracies," said Saeed Jalili, who heads the Supreme National Security Council.

The U.S. and Russia meet in Germany Saturday in a new bid to iron out differences over Syria's war, with the leader of the opposition saying the world must not be a bystander to the tragedy.

On the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden is to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Syrian opposition chief Moaz al-Khatib and U.N.-Arab League peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi.

Syria's rebels have seized a key district in the embattled northern city of Aleppo, a resident and activists told Agence France Presse on Saturday, as troops again bombarded areas south of Damascus.

"Rebel fighters seized total control of Sheikh Said in southern Aleppo, after troops exhausted by 48 hours of fighting withdrew from the district," one resident of the area said.

The United States is increasingly concerned that "chaos" in Syria could allow Hizbullah to obtain sophisticated weapons from the Damascus regime, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told Agence France Presse in an interview.

Speaking two days after Israel carried out a bombing raid on a military site outside Damascus, Panetta said Washington was worried Hizbullah could exploit the 22-month conflict in Syria.

The 22-month conflict in Syria has displaced half of the country's 500,000 Palestinian refugees, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees said on Friday.

The U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) said 20,000 of the estimated 250,000 Palestinians displaced by the conflict had fled to Lebanon and almost 3,500 to Jordan.